After the boy’s teacher at Wiregrass Elementary School in Pasco County told him to stand and show respect for the flag, the mother stated the school should not have publicly reprimanded him.

Eugenia McDowell told ABC News that the teacher sent her a text message on Monday, alerting her of her son’s protest and how she had admonished him. McDowell was not pleased with the response because she felt the admonishment in front of his classmates encroached on her son’s freedom of speech. McDowell passed the text along to ABC News.

The teacher’s message to McDowell read: “I knew where he had seen [kneeling], but I did tell him that in the classroom, we are learning what it means to be a good citizen, we’re learning about respecting the United States of America and our country symbols and showing loyalty and patriotism and that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.”

A spokesperson for the Pasco County School District told ABC that the teacher responded to the incident by mouthing, “We stand for the pledge” when she saw the boy kneeling.